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''Alinor," Isobel said suddenly, "you must stop mourning for Simon. He has been dead near a year. You are making Ian very unhappy." |
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"But I do not mourn for Simon," Alinor replied, lifting startled eyes from her work. "I never did mourn for himhe was very glad to dieI mourned only for myself, bereft and alone." |
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"You will not succeed, so do not waste your time in trying." Isobel spoke rather sharply, for her. "I am not a man, whom you can send off on a false scent with a twist of your tongue. It has taken me a long time to find the courage to say this, and I will not be turned aside. That is a good man you married, and you are making his life a bitter hell." |
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"It has nothing to do with Simon," Alinor sighed, tears rising to her eyes. "And you cannot say worse to me than I have said to myself. But it is not always so bad as it was yesterday. You saw us at our worst time. The first few days of our being together are very hard. In the letters we write, we cannot see each other's eyes, you know. My words are kind, his are cheerful. Perhaps I should not write at all, yet there is news I must send him and advice I must have from him. And I know he is unhappy, and I worry dreadfully that he will not guard himself properly, so I beg him to have a care and I say I miss himI do miss him. Then he rides home, or I must send for him for some purposeit is even worse when I send for himand we meetand" |
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Alinor burst into tears, and Isobel stared in blank amazement at her friend's heaving shoulders. Then she |
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